


Gotham City

by paralleltonone



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Angst, Batman AU, Gen, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, Multi, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-09
Updated: 2012-11-08
Packaged: 2017-11-18 06:51:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paralleltonone/pseuds/paralleltonone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gotham needed him. Not Liam Payne, but their hero. Gotham needed their Batman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gotham City

**Author's Note:**

> This work is based from the DC Comics hero Batman. It was created with a mix of various comic books eras of Batman as an inspiration, and is therefore, not an exact replica of any comic published or movie made. With that said, I hope you enjoy anyway.

          Clouds littered the dark sky, and rumbles roared in the distance. The majority of the city lay tucked away in bed, safe from the impending rain, but a select few were piling out of the doors of the brightly lit mansion, bringing their night to a close with minds littered with memories of names dropped and acquaintanceships formed, black ties and ball gowns, artifacts auctioned and glasses poured.

          The manor was the place where all of these things happened for the social elite on the outskirts of Gotham City on a regular basis. There was always a reason and never any at all: an election celebration, an auction, another point scored in an imaginary tally of wins for Payne Enterprises.

          Liam Payne always found a reason to pack his home, to surround himself with people, to fill up the abundance of space in the castle-like structure that was usually echoing with silence, and sometimes, unbearable isolation.

“Another fine event, Mr. Payne. My old pal would be proud.”

Liam turned in the direction of the man's voice and tossed a smile his way as he extended his hand, “Thank you, Mayor Cowell, always a pleasure to have you. Give my regards to your wife; the night just wasn’t the same without her.”

“Well, you know Cheryl. Always with her own agenda.”

“She’s a busy woman, sir. Most men would appreciate that,” Liam strode alongside Simon, walking him to the waiting sedan in the property’s curved driveway.

“She’s also my wife, and I don’t need her making a fool of me in front of some of the most prominent people in town. She belonged here at my side.”

“I’m sure she didn’t intend to make a fool out of you,” Liam chuckled, shaking his head.

Stopping at the car, Simon turned to Liam, “I didn’t realize you were so fond of Cheryl.”

          Liam took a deep inhale of breath to bite back the comment playing on his vocal cords, inwardly sighing at the memories of a night not much different from that one: glances exchanged between brown eyes, a clandestine escape from the bustling hall, sequined fabric and laced garments hitting hardwood, frantic movements as bare bodies became one, feminine moaning in whispers that spoke the name of the man lying beneath her, the same man who owned the property where her husband was schmoozing with the citizens who’d elected him just a staircase away.

          Simon Cowell, major of Gotham City. He was a man that Liam had known his entire life, maybe even looked up to. He was his late father’s best friend, shareholder in their family’s bread and butter, stern politician widely supported who’d managed to convince voters to put him in the same office thrice over, a man married to a beautiful woman that Liam was sure he didn’t deserve in the slightest.

“I just wish I could be so lucky to have a wife as lovely as yours. Cheryl does a lot of good for this city.”

“You should relish in being a bachelor, Payne. Married life is not all it’s cracked up to be,” Simon spoke as the driver opened the back door and he stepped in only to let his eyes glance upward, bringing an annoyed expression to his face, “Ah, shit. Always something in this city.”

          Turning in the direction of Simon’s gaze, Liam saw the reason for his sudden exasperation. With a dark and cloudy sky as its background, the signal lit up the sky. Beaming among the stars lay a bright oval marked by a symbol in the center that every citizen of Gotham recognized at first sight.

          It was the calling card to the city’s supreme caretaker, their masked knight in blackened armor, their hero. The bat that rested in the center of the skylight was a cry for help to none other than him. _Batman_.

“I’m really glad you were able to come out tonight, Mr. Mayor,” Liam spoke, hand on the door to close it.

“It was a great night as always, Liam. You really know how to throw a bash,” Simon said and Liam nodded with a smile.

“Thanks, Mayor. Have a good night.”

Liam’s attempt at closing the door and seeing him off for the night was stalled by Simon pressing his own hand against it.

“Come by my office tomorrow, there was something I wanted to talk to you about, but I didn’t think this was the right arena for it.”

“Of course, sir. See you tomorrow. Good night, drive safe.”

          Liam hastily shut the door, stuffing his hands into the side pockets of his suit as he headed back to the place he’d called home his entire life. Up the marble steps and through the glass-windowed doors, Liam barely made into the foyer before Paul was there to meet him, just as worn from the eventful night as Liam was. Still, he knew just as Liam knew and he knew that the night was not over yet.

“I saw it, Paul.”

“You’re dragging along as if you didn’t.”

“It’s been a long night,” Liam sighed, walking ahead of Paul through the foyer, footsteps reverberating with the assistance of barren space and high ceilings.

“Well, it’s about to get longer,” Paul said then reminded Liam in a way he always did, “You asked for this, Master Liam.”

          It was a reminder Paul never failed to give him for years now. A bulletin that, though his life of prestigious schools from an early age, intelligence and bravery that mirrored his father’s, the integrity and charitably passed to him from his mother, and a place among the highest of society were all things given to him, the other life was the one he chose. The one he picked because he felt that it was what he was meant to do.

 

_“Dad, can we go see that show again sometime?”_

           _Chuckling at the excitement of the eight-year-old hoisted on his shoulders, Thomas Payne couldn’t help but to give in at his request for another night in plush red seats and attention focused on the music-ladened performance of_ Nine _._

_“One night, Liam.”_

_“What about to-”_

_“Not tomorrow,” Thomas quickly caught him, knowing where that question was headed. “When I get back from Chile, we’ll go again. How’s that sound?”_

_“Chile? But Thomas, you said you weren’t going,” chimed in the man’s wife._

_“I know, Martha, but that was a pretty bad accident in those mines. Dr. Vidal called me again himself and asked for my help; he said they can use all the surgeons they can get.”_

_“It’s just so close to the holidays.”_

_“I know, and I’ll definitely be home before the man in the big red suit comes down our chimney. I can promise that,” he smiled up at his son who was well aware of the entire conversation between his parents._

_“About that,” Liam spoke. “You think he got my letter? And, if he did, how soon do you think it will be before cauliflower disappears?”_

_“Liam, that’s-” Martha began with amusement only to pause at the shadow that blanketed the light near them._

           _Looking ahead, the family spotted the man, face darkened by the street’s minimal light. Thomas moved his son from atop his shoulders, setting him down to his feet and stood in front of the boy and woman, acting almost as a barricade between them and the stranger in the heavy coat before them._

_“Do you need some assistance?”_

_“I think you might be in the wrong neighborhood, yeah? Some parts of this town just ain’t for everybody.”_

_“I pay taxes in this city; I’d like to think my family and I are welcome to go wherever we please here.”_

_“Taxes, huh? So, that means you got some ends to spare?”_

           _Thomas stepped back as the man drew closer, but that was to no avail because he couldn’t move fast enough before there was the feel of cold steel pressed to the center of his forehead, and first instinct caused him to close his eyes._

_“Here!” he fumbled through his pockets blindly, finding his wallet and handing it over. “Take the money, my watch is worth a lot too, you can have it; you can have whatever you want.”_

           _Brown eyes that matched the tinier ones looking at the scene unfolding before him popped open again when the feel of his wife’s warmth behind him suddenly disappeared._

_“I think I want your wife, actually,” the gunman spoke, his grip on the black-haired woman tightening with his words._

_“THOMAS!”_

           _The rest of what ensued forever remained a blur for the innocent eyes watching. Thomas Wayne, who loved his family far more than any amount of decimals in his bank account, more than any piece of paper that hung on his office walls, more than any other life he saved with instruments in an operating room, dove at the masked man holding his wife. Liam should have closed his eyes. His entire life, his only regret was that he didn’t close his eyes._

           _Shots rang out. One. Two. Three. All the way to five. There should have been a sixth, but sirens blaring and lights flashing at a distance not far from where they stood kept that number from coming. With a wallet worth more than the cash it’d held then, a string of diamonds that once graced the woman’s pale neck and two lives, the mystery man turned on his heels and headed into the darkness._

           _Help turned onto the street and came to a screeching stop next to the broken family. Lights of blue. Red. So much red. Littering the freezing cold ground. Slipping through the cracks of the pavement. Staining his hands, his suit because he couldn’t not hug her, couldn’t not say goodbye to him. Red. Red was all Liam saw before he finally closed his eyes._

 

          Looking at his reflection in the mirror attached to the stone wall, Liam couldn’t see Liam. He couldn’t see Liam because he wasn’t Liam. With his face shielded, full pink lips and chocolate brown eyes were the only things peeking through ebony covering, his body encased in hardened synthetics that even steel couldn’t hold a candle to, dips throughout that outlined muscles. Covered in black from head to toe, and over hands and feet, a layer of fabric trailing behind him, Liam wasn’t Liam.

          The man looking back at him through the glass was the man the city was in need of that night, the one they’d sent the lighted signal up for. It was a choice he made, wasn’t given to him. A responsibility he took on because he thought there could be no good if evil was left to prosper, a responsibility he took on because no other child should lose a parent before they should have, a responsibility he took on because Gotham needed someone on its side. Gotham needed him. Not Liam Payne. Gotham needed their hero. Gotham needed their Batman.  


________________________________________________________________________

  
          An abrupt stream of light broke Liam’s slumber. The sound of metal rings scraping against a metal bar as fabric was pulled back rung in his ears.

“Five more minutes, Paul,” Liam groaned, turning over in spite of his sore muscles and pulling a silk cased pillow over his face.

“Nearly twenty years and you’re still keeping hope for five more minutes you will never get?” Paul went over to the bed and grabbed at the scarlet cushion, tugging it a few times before he managed to get it away from the younger man who curled further beneath the sleek bed coverings. “Nearly twenty years and I’m still pulling you out of bed as if you’re still 10.”

          Nearly twenty years since Paul Higgins, a man in a long line of Higgins who’d served as the Payne family’s butlers, had been forced to add caretaker to his growing list of skills following the death of his employers and the orphaning of their only son. It was what Thomas and Martha had wanted when they’d named Paul as Liam’s guardian in the event of their deaths and it was what Liam wanted when he fell into Paul’s arms upon learning the news that his mother and father would never return to him.

          For nearly twenty years, Paul had been at Liam’s side to see him through an adolescence with both of them learning how to properly fall into child/guardian roles with one another and through genius when he stepped into college at an age far beyond many, through strings of lovers and through bad decisions he silently let him learn from, through rising to head his family’s empire and through frightening wishes to become the savior of the city. Paul was there through all of it.

          In a repeat of the morning before it, and the morning before that, and many more mornings before that, Paul managed to pull the other man from the bed and to the hardwood floor beneath it, causing an exasperated and pained groan to emit from his mouth.

“What’s the damage this morning, Master Liam?”

Sitting up, Liam glanced over his bare chest, surveying the darkening markings on his upper body and he shrugged, “It's fine.”

          It bothered Paul. It'd bothered Paul from the moment that a then 19-year-old Liam brought him down an elevator into a world beneath his home, a world he'd been piecing together and creating and manufacturing for a year. It was his Batcave and he was Batman, and Paul beat himself up with worry everyday since then. Caring for Liam and protecting him had been the only job he'd been left to do, but leave it to Liam to make that difficult.

“Ms. Zouiten called-”

Liam's eyebrows shot up at the mention of that name, but Paul quickly completed his statement, shooting down any thoughts the younger man let cross his brain.

“-to remind you about your meeting with Mayor Cowell.”

“Oh, right. Did Kenza say at all what it was about?”

“Just that it was rather important.” Paul found himself on the receiving end of a disinterested glare and he knew the volumes that look spoke, “Get up, Master Liam. I'll ready the car.”

          And, as Paul walked to the bedroom door and out of it, that was Liam's hint the conversation was closed. Nearly twenty years, and they’d fallen into those child/guardian roles pretty well.  


________________________________________________________________________

  
          Liam scurried up the abundance of marble steps and pushed through the revolving doors to step into City Hall. Greetings given in passing at the guards seated around the security desk, Liam continued straight to the waiting elevators at end of the large entryway. A smile tossed the way of a young man waiting at the doors of one of the elevators, the man returned the gesture, clutching the envelope he held in his hand. With a chime, the doors open and Liam allowed the boy to enter first.

          Stepping off upon the car’s arrival to the fifteenth floor, Liam tossed one last smile to the well-built bike messenger still posted against the wall, and stuffed his phone into his pants pocket, the number of a face he'd forget just like all the others logged to his contact list. It wasn't two minutes later that that same smile was shifted to the blonde at the desk he took a seat on the edge of.

Glancing up from her stack of paperwork, her look of annoyance quickly changed to a playful glare as she spoke, "Well, if it isn't the great Liam Payne. Late, as usual.”

“A gentleman is never late, everyone else is merely early,” he grinned.

“Uh huh. Well, the gentleman is going to have to wait his turn now.”

“Wait my turn?” Liam raised an eyebrow, earning a shrug from Kenza. “Kenza, you know just as well as I do that I am a very busy man. I don’t have all day, help me out here,” Liam spoke, reaching out to place a fingertip to her cheek, running it across the tanned flesh and down over her jaw to her neck, only stopping at the feel of her hand on top of his when he loosened a notch of the crisp button-down she wore.

“Wait here, Liam,” Kenza quickly stood and went to the office door next to her desk, but not before Liam got a feel of the goosebumps that radiated from her skin at his touch. “Mayor Cowell,” she spoke with a gentle knock at the door. “Li-Mr. Payne is here to see you. He says he’s sorry for being late and making you wait,” she glanced at Liam with a smirk as he raised an eyebrow in her direction as if to deny the apology he likely should have been delivering. “He was stuck in traffic, but he’s really pressed for time.”

          Turning to the man posted on her desk again, Kenza earned a thumbs up as she walked back to stand between his legs. Liam didn’t hesitant to lock his arms around her middle, pulling her in close to press his lips to hers in a kiss that was too sensual to be between friends, too familiar to be a first and too inappropriate for the moment.

“Mmm, I still owe you a rain check, don’t I?” Liam hummed against her lips between pecks.

“You owe me several nights of rain checks.”

“Tonight. 8:00.”

          Before she could response, a soft pop broke them apart, and rather quickly. Crossing her arms across her chest, Kenza made an attempt at a casual stance when the brown-haired man peeked his head out of the door.

“Come on in, Payne,” he motioned to Liam who moved from the desk, flashing the mayor’s assistant one last secretive smile over his shoulder as he went into her boss’ office.

          Simon Cowell had the best view of the city from his office. Through massive triple paned glass, he could see past the towering skyscrapers and city streets straight to the river and to the bridge that separated Gotham from neighboring cities, the bridge that isolated them from those cities and kept them at bay from the rest of the country. Simon Cowell had the best view of the city from his office because it played a trick to the eye and made the city look like a beautiful place.

          Liam had been so immersed in taking in the photos and certificates and other accolades he’d seen a hundred and one times that lined the wood paneled walls that he barely noticed the tweed-suited man with the mess of curls he called hair seated in the room.

“Oh, we have company?” Liam turned to glance at Simon.

“Hello, Mr. Payne,” he stood, extending a hand in introduction before Simon could even open his mouth to do so. “You don’t remember me, I’m sure, but I was a student at Gotham U when you lectured to Professor Hauck’s criminology class. It was…absolutely brilliant, and now that I’m in this position I’m in, I really understand a lot of what you said back then.”

“A little young to have been in that class, huh? I lectured there seven years ago…”

“Well, you were a little young to be lecturing, so I guess we’re kind of alike in that aspect,” the lanky boy shrugged as he joked, but Liam didn’t crack a smile.

“I’m sorry, who are you again?”

“Liam, this is Dr. Harry Styles,” Simon stepped in, properly introducing the two men, even though one of them needed no introduction. “He’s the new head psychiatrist over at Arkham.”

“A doctor? Really?” Liam raised an eyebrow as looked back to the man who looked as if he wasn’t a day over 25.

“Graduated summa cum laude from Gotham U, obtained a master’s in a year’s time and taught psychology at GU. That…didn’t work out, but he just snagged his doctorate about a year ago and moved onto to better things. I think he’s going to do well over there,” Simon smiled, placing a hand upon Harry’s shoulder with the praise that had the young man blushing. “Don’t let the baby face fool you, Payne; this kid knows his stuff.

“Nice to meet you, Harry. Now, Mayor, I know you didn’t call me all the way down here for nothing,” Liam said as he sat in the chair Harry had been occupying, moving the briefcase Harry placed there before he stood to the side.

“Before we talk, can I get you a cup of coffee? Bottled water?” Simon sat behind his desk that lay somewhere beneath piles of paper.

“A cup of coffee would be great.”

Snapping his fingers, Simon got his attention, “Harry, do me a favor and grab two cups of coffee for myself and Liam. And get a few of those doughnuts too.”

“But Kenza…” Harry motioned to the door as he mentioned the assistant on the other side of it.

“Oh yeah, just ask her; she can tell you where to find it,” Simon nodded. “Thanks.”

“I’ll take mine with three creams and three sugars, Harry, if that’s all right.”

          For a split second, Harry’s face contorted into a glare at the man who’d taken his seat, the man that, just that morning, he’d been over the moon over meeting, but he quickly let it fade away as he quietly turned to the door and retreated from the room. It took every bit of him not to slam that door on his way out.

“You seem pretty smitten with him, Mayor Cowell?”

“He’s a good kid, Payne. I thought he got a tough break over at GU,” Simon sighed.

“Styles…he isn’t that professor that was fired, was he?”

“That would be the one.”

“Mayor, he nearly killed his entire class. I called the Board myself to push for his dismissal.”

“It was an accident, Liam. We all make mistakes. I think he’s got a bright future ahead of him and I think he’s exactly what Arkham needs, especially with Samuels spending like…”

          Then Simon trailed off with a heavy breath in that manner that let Liam know exactly what this meeting was about, what was so important and where this was all going. Liam couldn’t help the sigh that escaped his lips, running a hand over his face.

“How in the hole is it?”

“Not deep enough that one of your auctions can’t bring it out.”

“My auctions and my loaded colleagues,” Liam replied curtly.

“Liam, please. Everyday in this city there’s something new and you know that, you see the papers. There’s this new guy out there…calling himself Dr. Hugo Strange, and he sure seems to be one sick asshole,” Simon reached over to a stack of papers on his desk, unfolded a newspaper and pushed it toward Liam. “Last night, a group of his people tore apart a bank not too far from here. I don’t know what kind of shit he’s working, but witnesses who caught a glimpse were too scared to do anything, especially call the police. These - I’m not even sure they’re human - look like-”

“Zombies.”

          That they did. Oversized, grotesque living dead. Liam didn’t need to look at the newspaper to know that: he’d been there, and the front page picture captured of Batman leaving a brutal scene of three bleeding and downed giants was proof of that.

“They found a note on one of them from this Dr. Strange. I’m worried that there might be more of these guys and that Hugo’s definitely not finished.”

“I don’t understand how funding the Asylum correlates to this?”

“If he’s got the mentality to create creatures like these, would you put this man in a prison? We’re going to get him, and he needs someplace to go when we do.”

A grave would be the best place, Liam thought. He couldn’t escape from there.

“This city needs Arkham Asylum, Payne. Look at all the people Batman have stuffed in there,” Simon felt the need to slam his hand against the newspaper for emphasis then. “It’s sinking, Liam, and I know this isn’t the kind of charity you normally give, but…as a friend, I’m asking you to. Just this once.”

Liam sat thoughtful for a long moment before he spoke with a heavy sigh as he stood, “I’ll have Paul call you with details. My only request…tell Samuels to keep his own crazy to a minimum for the night.”

“I’ll pass that along. Thanks, Liam,” Simon smiled.

          With a nod, Liam opened the door and stepped out straight into Harry, sending cups of caffeine and sugary pastries into his blue blazer and striped button down beneath it.

“Oh! Harry, I’m so sorry,” Liam stepped around him with a pat to his shoulder, “Look, just talk to Mayor Cowell and he’ll let you know where you can send the dry cleaning bill, okay?”

          Glancing Kenza’s way with his exit, Liam held up eight fingers as a reminder for their date that night, their date that would likely get cancelled like so many others…if Dr. Strange had anything to say about it.  


**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](http://livewhilewereforeveryoung.tumblr.com/)


End file.
